Facebook communication

On Facebook fights: “For many of us, Facebook fights are a part of daily life.A 2012 Pew study found that 15% of adults and 22% of teens had engaged in an interaction on the site that resulted in a friendship ending. Three percent of adults and 8% of teens said that fighting on the site had led to fighting in real life.”

On Facebook discussions: “the user’s initial reason for starting the conversation sets the emotional temperature for the rest of the comment thread”

On motivations to post on Facebook: “Posts that center on ourselves, our achievements, and our sometimes self-righteous political views can have a positive influence on the brain. Even posts that actively (and unconsciously) seek to hurt others can energize our brain.”

On the effect of a lack of nonverbal communication: “up to 65% of our communication is nonverbal — which means it can’t be shared over Facebook. Larry Rosen is a psychology professor at California State University, Dominguez Hill who studies social media conversations. According to him, not only do we often feel disinhibited behind our screens, our bodies often simply don’t know what’s going on. “You don’t understand their context, their feelings, their emotions, all you have to go on see is reflected in your screen,” Rosen told Mashable. So when we can’t see what the other person is thinking or feeling, our brains do what they do best — make sh*t up. “We imagine they’re enjoying the conversation as much we are,” Rosen said. We imagine they’re enjoying this. We pretend the fight is friendly. When our brains don’t know the context, they fill it in in self-serving ways — even when opposing evidence is tap-dancing naked in our face.”

On Facebook friendships: ““friendships in the virtual world form very quickly, so they can unfold just as quickly,” Rosen told me. … On Facebook, “your best friend can become your worst enemy in one day,” Rosen said. And while some of us of these friendships might feel ephemeral, for many of us, our Facebook fallouts hurt.”

On Facebook identity threats: “UCI Professor of Psychology Peter Ditto studies the ways in which people develop and shape their political worldviews. For Ditto, most of our knowledge about the world isn’t grounded in direct evidence, but socially-based: “The way we know we’re right is when most people around us agree.” And because our “moral beliefs shape our factual beliefs”—when someone dissents, our entire self can feel threatened, causing crisis.”